By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bob Bosse wanted to relive the glory days of his beloved baseball at the ballpark. And Lonna Teneyck wanted to visit her family’s graves at the windswept cemetery on Wingston Road.
And through its “Dare to Dream” program, Wood Haven Health Care helped make both those wishes come true for Bosse, 89, and Teneyck, 74, residents of the nursing home.
Neither dream was spectacular or expensive – but both meant the world to the residents.
“It was something,” Bosse said as he held up his souvenir Mud Hens jersey back in his room at Wood Haven.
“I haven’t seen the Mud Hens for awhile. I missed them,” said Bosse, a retired custodian at Pemberville Elementary. And as extra bonuses, the Hens won the game, and Bosse’s picture was shown on the ballpark’s big screen.
“That was a surprise,” he said with a smile.
Bosse has been a lifelong fan of baseball, starting with little league and pick-up games with his pals. In high school, he played outfield for the Webster Scots. He wasn’t a standout player, but his love for the sport continued to grow.
His favorite pro team is the Chicago White Sox, with his all-time favorite player being “Minnie” Minoso, also known as the “Cuban Comet,” an All-Star left fielder for the Sox. Bosse did get to go to a White Sox game years ago, with the Yankees trouncing the Sox.
Bosse used to be a regular at Mud Hens games, and still was able to keep stats in the official scorebook as the game proceeded.
“It’s a good memory,” Bosse said as he headed back to the afternoon bingo game at Wood Haven.
Lonna Teneyck’s dream was to put flowers on the graves of her husband, parents and grandparents at Wingston Cemetery south of Bowling Green.
“This was the only thing I thought of,” she said about her wish. “I hadn’t been out there for four years. I missed them. I used to go out there and sit and talk to them.”
Teneyck was comforted to see the care that had been put into maintaining the cemetery.
“It’s just gorgeous,” she said.
Teneyck was raised in the country, in a house on a hill on East Gypsy Lane Road.
“I grew up farming. I drove a tractor at the age of 10,” she said. Her parents had four girls and one boy. “So the girls did what we had to do.”
During her cemetery visit, Teneyck put purple irises on the graves of her parents, Charles and Donna Snow, and her grandparents, Phillip and Viola Snow. She placed red carnations on the grave of her husband, David Teneyck.
“David loved red carnations,” she said.
She was able to once again chat with David, who had been an over-the-road truck driver. He was a Vietnam War veteran, who lost his leg in 2001 and died in 2012.
“He died one day shy of our 28th anniversary,” Teneyck said, getting emotional about the talk she had with her husband during her cemetery visit. “I’m going to remember that forever.”
“I hope this program goes on and on and on,” she said of the Dare to Dream program at Wood Haven.
As Teneyck headed back to bingo, she brushed off any worries about missing rounds of the game. “Somebody’s watching my card for me,” she said with a smile.
